Saturday, July 30, 2011

The Tigers, in need of fortifying their starting rotation, acquired starter Doug Fister and reliever David Pauley from the Seattle Mariners Saturday, a high-ranking Tigers’ official confirmed. The official was not authorized to speak publicly.

The Mariners will receive left-handed pitcher Charlie Furbush, minor league third baseman Francisco Martinez, minor-league outfielder Casper Wells and a player to be named, according to the official.

Fister, 27, has been a workhorse for the Mariners. He is averaging 6.95 innings a start, and is yielding a 3.33 ERA and 1.17 WHIP in 21 starts. He has been victimized by poor run support, with the Mariners scoring just 17 runs in his last 10 starts. Pauley is yielding a 2.15 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in 39 games.

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Ideally, this strategy should be something the M's can exploit... get a finesse pitcher, put a good defense behind him in your pitchers' park, then trade him after he runs up some stats (that are not likely to be duplicated once he's removed from those circumstances). Let's see what they get back.

I think this is a good trade for both teams. Doubtful that the PTBNL is of consequence, so looking at the players involved, I think Furbush has a good track record but just isn't able to consume as many innings as Fister. Casper Wells could have a couple okay years with the bat, which would obviously be big for the Mariners. But seems redundant for the Tigers with Dirks and Raburn, etc. sitting around. He is a righty though, which is usually not a promising sign in Safeco. And then maybe Martinez develops.

Fister is a cheap cromulent innings-eater, he will be missed in Seattle. Pauley was nails early this season, has come back to earth, but again is cheap and club-controllable.

Wells will probably be useful, but his delta over Greg Halman is probably not a lot. W'll see what happens going forward, but i would have preferred that the M's held onto those two guys until this winter and looked for a solid outfielder in return.

Fister has been quite interesting. He was never rated highly as a prospect and had an anticipated upside as a fungible #5 starter but who more likely would find a spot in the bullpen. Along the way, though, Fister honed his control and over the last year has added a few ticks of velocity, so that now he's a very serviceable starter. He should do well in Comerica and I think that Tigers fans will be pleased with what he will bring. He not only helps them out this year, but with the years of control should be a mainstay for several years. He's not going to be an ace, but he's should be more than an innings eater.

Pauley is a serviceable bullpen arm. In the off-season guys like Pauley are readily available, but they all find jobs so if you need one during the season you have to pay something to pick one up.